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Optics Express

Controlled generation of single photons in a coupled atom-cavity system at a fast repetition-rate

Sungsam Kang, Sooin Lim, Myounggyu Hwang, Wookrae Kim, Jung‐Ryul Kim, Kyungwon An

Published Jan 25, 2011• 10 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We have demonstrated high-speed controlled generation of single photons in a coupled atom-cavity system. A single 85Rb atom, pumped with a nanosecond-pulse laser, generates a single photon into the cavity mode, and the photon is then emitted out the cavity rapidly. By employing cavity parameters for a moderate coupling regime, the single-photon emission process was optimized for both high efficiency and fast bit rates up to 10 MHz. The temporal single-photon wave packet was studied by means of the photon-arrival-time distribution relative to the pump pulse and the efficiency of the single-photon generation was investigated as the pump power. The single-photon nature of the emission was confirmed by the second-order correlation of emitted photons.

DOI
10.1364/oe.19.002440

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We have demonstrated high-speed controlled generation of single photons in a coupled atom-cavity system. A single 85Rb atom, pumped with a nanosecond-pulse laser, generates a single photon into the cavity mode, and the photon is then emitted out the cavity rapidly. By employing cavity parameters for a moderate coupling regime, the single-photon emission process was optimized for both high efficiency and fast bit rates up to 10 MHz. The temporal single-photon wave packet was studied by means of the photon-arrival-time distribution relative to the pump pulse and the efficiency of the single-photon generation was investigated as the pump power. The single-photon nature of the emission was confirmed by the second-order correlation of emitted photons.
In this talk, the authors report realization of high-speed single photon generation on demand in a quantum composite of a single85Rb atom and a Fabry-Perot cavity mode. The key idea in our experiment is to optimize system parameters for high efficiency and repetition rate of single photon generation. For this, we employed cavity parameters for a moderate coupling regime instead of the strong coupling regime with the atom-cavity coupling, cavity decay rate and atom decay rate given as (g, K, γ)/2π = (7, 19, 3) MHz (all half widths), respectively. As a result, we could generate single photons with a high efficiency of 17% at a fast repetition rate up to 10 MHz. A figure of merit, defined as the product of the efficiency and the repetition rate, is 30 times higher than those of any previous experiments in the cavity-QED system.
A single rubidium atom trapped within a high-finesse optical cavity is an efficient source of single photons. We theoretically and experimentally study single-photon generation using a vacuum stimulated Raman adiabatic passage. We experimentally achieve photon generation efficiencies of up to 34% and 56% on the D1{D}_{1}D1​ and D2{D}_{2}D2​ line, respectively. Output coupling with 89% results in record-high efficiencies for single photons in one spatiotemporally well-defined propagating mode. We demonstrate that the observed generation efficiencies are constant in a wide range of applied pump laser powers and virtual level detunings. This allows for independent control over the frequency and wave packet envelope of the photons without loss in efficiency. In combination with the long trapping time of the atom in the cavity, our system constitutes a significant advancement toward an on-demand, highly efficient single-photon source for quantum information processing tasks.
We present a mechanism to produce indistinguishable single-photon pulses on demand from an optical cavity. The sequences of two laser pulses generate, at the two Raman transitions of a four-level atom, the same cavity-mode photons without repumping of the atom between photon generations. Photons are emitted from the cavity with near-unit efficiency in well-defined temporal modes of identical shapes controlled by the laser fields. The second-order correlation function reveals the single-photon nature of the proposed source. A realistic setup for the experimental implementation is presented.
In this thesis a single atom is trapped in the mode of a high-finesse cavity and used to generate single photons in a controlled way. Starting from a magneto-optical trap, rubidium atoms are loaded into an optical dipole-force trap and transported to the cavity. On arrival the atoms are trapped in another trap with a standing wave geometry and excited by a pump laser incident perpendicular to the cavity axis. With the help of cavity cooling forces, a single atom could then be selected and trapped for up to a minute. A sequence of laser pulses is applied to induce the emission of a stream of single photons from the atom. Up to 300000 photons could be generated from the same atom in this way. The single-photon character of the source is verified within a few seconds after which the photons can be distributed to an independent user while monitoring the presence of the atom.
We report on the fast excitation of a single atom coupled to an optical cavity using laser pulses that are much shorter than all other relevant processes. The cavity frequency constitutes a control parameter that allows the creation of single photons in a superposition of two tunable frequencies. Each photon emitted from the cavity thus exhibits a pronounced amplitude modulation determined by the oscillatory energy exchange between the atom and the cavity. Our technique constitutes a versatile tool for future quantum networking experiments.
For single-photon generation based on cavity quantum electrodynamics, we investigate a practical model assuming a Gaussian wave packet. This model makes it possible to comprehensively analyze the temporal dynamics of an atom-cavity system with both adiabatic and nonadiabatic conditions using analytical expressions. These results enable us to clarify the relationship between pulse width and maximum success probability over the full range of coupling regimes. We demonstrate how to achieve a high success probability while keeping a short pulse width by optimizing the cavity transmittance parameter and the time-controlled external field. Our formulations provide a practical tool for efficient single-photon generation in a wide variety of experimental platforms.